Interview with Traci Bakenhaster of Raising the Next Gen [82]

Interview with Traci Bakenhaster of Raising the Next Gen

She is THE resource for helping your teen or young adult figure out what's next after high school, keeping up with the list of to do's as a high schooler and more!  Join the waitlist here https://raisingthenextgen.com/subscription-waitlist

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It's November 2022 is not over yet. So ready to move. It doesn't mean we can't take a break. It doesn't mean we can't enjoy our holidays like what all is available are starting, ignite your visibility on Instagram coming up on the 28th of November and that is going to help you streamline your Instagram experience. understand fully know what type of content to be putting on there and understand all the ins and outs real stories. He posts all the things so that you can create a raving fan audience there. Make sure you check it out visibility queen.com Hello, and welcome back to my third interview this week. Today I am with the one the only Tracy bacon Hastur. And Tracy has been in my life for a couple years. She is also a member of the visible inner circle. Tracy, do you want to tell her buddy? Hi and a little bit about yourself real quick? Yeah, absolutely. So hello, everybody. So yes, I'm Tracy bacon Hastur. I'm the founder of an organization called Raising the next gen so I work with teens and young adults helping them with all aspects of Career College and just life skills in general. Absolutely love being here and being part of this. So thank you Crissy for including me. Thank you for coming on. I appreciate it. So it's been a while since we've chatted. So why don't you get us up to date? And just tell us what's been going on what you've been into, because you have like a million things going on right now. So let's just chat about that for a quick second. Absolutely. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of things going on. It's kind of like the having my hand in a zillion different pots right now, which is great. They're all good pots, but it's definitely like a lot. So been working on online curriculum. So I'm actually going to be launching a subscription model curriculum. So for homeschooling families, or families of teens and young adults that just want to like get the playbook to life success. That is basically what this is going to be. So I'm really excited about that. That's been taking up a big chunk of time developing all that curriculum and making it all nice and all the handouts and all the things. I've also been working on our pilot, first year pilot of adulting 101, which is an after school program for foster care and ours teenagers. So we're piloting it in Pickerington. And we're really excited about it. It's a nonprofit program. So and building all that out. So working on recruitment, working on sponsorships, so a lot of pieces, moving parts there, plus doing some career events for high school students in the next couple months as well. So helping them kind of get connected to jobs. So there's a lot of things going on. Very excited about it. But yes, it has definitely kept me a little busy and kind of out of sync with everybody else. So I'm glad to be able to be like yes, I'm back to talking to people and being able to actually come out of the cave of work life right now. So I have to ask you a question. Because most of the people that I bring on to interview work with adults, and you chose to work with teens. So why are you so passionate about that? And why is it so important to you? Yeah, I think the biggest reason honestly, a lot of it just personal experience of walking through those challenges of when you don't know how to manage your money when you don't know what career you want to go into. I mean, I was a student high school I was a good student, you know, average GPA, three point, whatever GPA before all the crazy four point Evers that there are now and had tons of interest, I had no idea what I wanted to do, I bounced from one career option to another because I had such vast interests. And then when I finally went into the adult world, I kind of just, you know, not taking life very seriously just kind of doing things and making not the best decisions of all time, I ended up getting pregnant with my son. So I was a single mom until the age of 21. And that's when the financial pieces started because of course babies are expensive. And I was not prepared for all that I didn't know how to manage money. I knew absolutely nothing about us like credit card, right? That's what that's what they're for, and student loans and all the things and so going through that was hard enough. But then I started working in higher education, and spending a lot of time around teenagers and I was like, Well no wonder I ended up the way I did these all the all these kids are the same boat I am. And it just really frustrated me that there was not a really good support out there to prepare teenagers for the adult world. You know, yes, moms and dads do the best they can. But at the end of day, they're still mom and dads, right? I'm a mom, my son doesn't always listen to me even when I know best, right? It's coming from somebody else. It's different teachers, and counselors are so focused anymore on testing and all these other pieces and meeting all these requirements that they don't really have the time now to help students figure out what they want to do with their life or if they want to go to college and if they do, how to do it the right way. And so me stepping back and seeing all that I got so frustrated because I'm like we're letting the students down. Like we as a society are not here for these kids, these next generations of students. And so I decided decided I was gonna do something about it. So I started a business to work with teens. I love it. I love it. And I think it's good to see that the The passion behind it and the why? Because a lot of us as adults, just, we're so used to saying to our kids, just do it. Yep. Just do it. Right, like, and then they're like, why? Like, they're, you know, they need all these reasons behind it. And again, they won't always listen to us, but they will listen to somebody else, especially if you can, you know, still remember what it felt like to be that age and go through those things and deal with those things. So I love that. And I appreciate that, you know, I have a 15 year old and I appreciate that they have a resource like you to to go to that's that we feel comfortable sending them to that's not mom and dad, right? So it's so hard for us as parents to give up control and be like, No, we know better, right? But that doesn't matter if they don't listen, it doesn't matter how much we know better, they're not going to listen, or do what we say it doesn't matter. So um, you have been, we've you and I've talked about this program for a while and I know it kind of got pushed to the backburner, because so many other things were going on amazing things are going on for you. So let's talk about this membership and and what that looks like and why teens would want to be a part of this. Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of the feedback I got when I was talking to families about the workshops and things that I was doing, they were like, I love these. But the challenges, we either can't do this day or time or my student doesn't want to go to an in person thing. They'd rather do it on their own time, or you know, all the different barriers that existed. And I was like, you know, why not create an online curriculum and just all the things I teach and work with students and just create it and be like, here you go, DIY it there. Now you can go through these videos, go through these lessons, and get all the same benefit. But now you can do it on your own time, and you have full access to it as long as you're in the subscription. So this, I mean, the curriculum for this is is intensive, and the best way not intensive, like stressful, it is intensive, like it gives you everything you need. So I'm talking Yeah, not just the video and how tos and tutorials, but also like all the templates and the worksheets and the handouts, I mean, just everything to really have maximum success for students. And I think the best part about it for teens, especially because no teenager is like, yeah, I want to go online and do more coursework. But this isn't a traditional course this isn't going to be here's your quizzes and your tests, and let's test all your knowledge. It's like, no, these are real world practical things that you want to know as a teenager. I mean, I get teens all the time. They're like, yeah, I want help figuring out my career. Yeah, I don't know how to write a resume. How? Oh, yeah, I want to know about money. How can I move out on my own? How do I find apartment, they're gonna learn all that in this curriculum? So there'll be multitude of different courses when it first launches? I'll have about six courses a part of it. But eventually, I mean, you're looking at 20 plus different courses. I mean, everything from college and career exploration all the way down to basic car maintenance, like how do I change a tire on my car? How do I do oil changes and check my fluids, just practical, real world skills that so many adults don't even know but that teens really need to if they want to go out in the real world. And I think especially today, it's a lot different than when I left high school. And you know, when most of us adults have left high school, it's a totally different world out there. Now you have social media and all these pieces and parts. And so many students, I think, get trapped in this. I can't just go out and figure it out. Right? We were like, Yeah, I have no idea. But I'll figure it out. And I'll figure it out the hard way. And these teenagers, like, I don't want to figure it out the hard way. But I don't even know what to do to go try to figure it out besides looking at YouTube. And so being able to provide like a, here's an organized like step by step process of what to do for this. And so, obviously, as long as people are paying the monthly subscription fee, they get access to all the courses for as long as they pay that. And especially for those that kind of come in at that founder level, they'll have access to all the courses forever at that price. So it'll be locked in for them, which is really nice. Yeah, yeah. And I give two support sessions a month as well. So we'll have a q&a virtual live session every month, twice a month, and families can jump on that and get any questions and support answered as well. I love that. So my next question is not that this applies to me. But I know people are going to ask this. What if they have two teams? Yes, that's a great question. So there is a significant discount for additional students, because I the whole goal behind this is that it's affordable for families everywhere. I don't want this to be a Hey, it's$1,000 a month for you to participate with all six year kids like No, it's not going to be that. So the add ons for additional students is is at least 50% off of the the monthly fee. So that way it is it makes it a little more affordable. Yeah. And everybody has their own login and Exactly, yep. So cool. So is there a way and I know we didn't talk about this before. So maybe putting you on the spot? Is there a way to see like for parents to see are they even doing it? That's a great question. So yes, there is a way for me to build into the courses if a student completes it or not. Unlike how it basically gets the green checkmark, so parents can log in to their student's account to see that. The fun thing about this too is parents are going to have their own access to this. And that is no additional cost. So that way, they'll have access to a parent support group. I'm also working with some friends of mine that are parent coaches that are building some curriculum that will be strictly for parents. So that'll be coming probably later this year, early next year. So really excited about that piece to to also support families and parents in this. And for most of the courses that will be a parent, part two it up, here's how to support your team. This is what they just learned. This is how you can help them. Absolutely. I love that. And I know I've told you this before, but like when my kid graduated from high school, and I was like, you know, you can send us letters. And he was like, I don't even know how to address an envelope. I was like, oh my god, we're sending you to a, a real college and you have no idea how to do that might be a problem, right? Yeah. So when I know this is not available yet, but it's coming right around the corner. So let's talk about that. What are we looking at as far as when this starts? When can people sign up and all that stuff? Yep, people will be able to start setting up either the very last week of April or very beginning of May. So that'll be like a little founder special probably for the month of May of anybody who signs up that month gets the special pricing gets that locked in for life, as long as they stay in it, all the fun perks and benefits. And I'll probably even do a fun drawing for everybody that signs up to to be able to do a drawing for a gift card if like 50 bucks for everybody who signs up in the month of May just as an additional perk. And thank you for believing in this and jumping on to something that doesn't really exist, because there's not really curriculum out there on how do you do your car without going to YouTube and just watching somebody, do it for five minutes and actually have curriculum built around it. So I'm pretty excited about it. I love that. So let's talk about like, obviously, we talked about adulting? Like, will it help them like with doing like different things to get into college or get a job? So wherever the path is that they choose, after they leave high school that they can they can choose that to do that, I guess? Yes, yes. So like every so let's talk about some of the foundational courses to start. So the first one is a career exploration course. And so we walk through everything that you need to do to explore career fields. So how do you explore them? What does that even look like? What websites should you go to what kind of information should you be looking for, and they will learn all of that will do practice informational interviews, so they can see what an informational is and how it actually looks and then have them have resources to go do them on their own, even down to like, here's a template on how to request somebody to do an informational interview with you. So all of those parts and pieces will be in there as well as like overviews of the different industry clusters that exist. And something I'll we'll be adding, it's not going to be in just yet. But that I'm going to start building over this year is going to be interviews with industry professionals. So just like kind of what we're doing, but it'd be reversed. Or I could interview Christy about her career field. And then that will be a video on their pay interview and entrepreneur in the marketing space or enter. Here's an interview with a electrician just so students can actually see real world of, oh, this is somebody actually in that space. And I can learn from about that career. Just by watching this video. I don't even have to go out and talk to that person. I liked that you said it that way too. Because you're getting people with degrees without degrees with trade school, like different coming from different places. And I think that's what kids need to see, like all the possibilities that yes, college is important. And you know, but it's not the path for everyone. Exactly. Yep, exactly. It is definitely. And that's the nice part about this curriculum. It is not biased in any aspect is very much here is the information. Here's the facts. Here's how to do it right so that you figure out the right direction for you. Yes, there have courses on college, but it's not even just like, hey, here's a college course it's okay, let's talk about the different kinds of colleges. Let's talk about the different types of financial aid. What are the pros, what are the cons of all of these things? And then what should you be looking for when you pick a college? How do you find that college? How do you go through the process? How do you do a successful tour at a college like it is everything to be successful. So if students actually really truly go through every single lesson, and actually do those things, they're going to be more successful than probably most adults. I know, even ones that work in those spaces. So I'm very excited for just the opportunity to be able to provide this for those students to not have to go down the hard direction that so many of us adults had to so you said there were a lot of templates and things like that. What about the high school or like is there a checklist for what I need to do as a freshman what I need to do as a junior a sophomore? And I totally did that backwards, a freshman sophomore, junior senior, what are the things that I should be doing and checking off my list as I go through each grade? Yes, yes, there is. So I actually that's a download that I have available anyways, but that is something that is part of that course as well. Here's what You should be doing based on your grade year. And I will probably be making one here soon for college students as well, because there are things that even it's everybody looks okay, you got into college, it's all done now have fun and know, there's so much you could be doing in college to maximize your time there as well, not just in high school. I love it. I think this is brilliant. I think this is so important. So all of my teen moms are like I said that wrong. All of my moms of teens, and our future teens, like you need to like connect with Tracy and make sure that this is on your resource list. Because again, this is something your kid can do besides sitting and playing on their device that moves the needle forward to get them into college, or what happens after high school like that is like so vital. And a lot of times, as a mom, as a working mom, we get really busy and time just keeps flying by and we forget or we don't know all of the things that are supposed to happen. So having a resource just like I would hire a trainer to help me get healthy, you know, and I hire all these things out. Why are we not doing this for our kids like this is crucial. And then we know that they're being taken care of by somebody who has a great resume, who has been through all of this, who has helped students and is actually getting contracted to pay or to work with other students in different school districts. So we know that she's been vetted, and she is the perfect person for it. So how do they get on this waitlist? Yes, so they go to the website. And then when they scroll down, you'll see it'll, it's a nice big orange box or yellow box or gold box, whatever you want to consider it. And it says get on waitlist here and it says monthly subscription. So you can't miss it when you scroll down on the homepage. So it's just raising the next gen.com Nice and simple. Just go to that website and scroll down and get on the waitlist there. I will also drop a direct link to the waitlist in the comments of the post as I find them. You tagged me in those? I will put those in the comments as well. Yeah. And if you know you want this drop waitlist in the comments right now, wherever you're watching this at so we can make sure we get you that link right away so we can get you on that waitlist. Yes. So my next question is, you know, what's my favorite question? What has visibility done for you? Because you weren't always like, gung ho about getting on video and doing video. Now you're probably doing a ton of video with all this course creation. So tell me a little bit about how visibility has helped you supported you and helped you grow your business? Yeah, I mean, honestly, especially for what I'm doing. And being able to especially the subscription pieces, while being able to like students can be anywhere, they don't have to be local, like some of the workshops I've done. And social media has been huge on especially the awareness piece of that I even exist. I'm just now starting to from sticking with it and doing what Christie says of like constantly posting and being out there. I'm not doing as many videos as I want to right now just because of the recording and all this stuff. But I'm consistently posting and doing engagement posts. And I've had people will start reaching out to me like, Hey, I found you online. Can we talk about you working with my child? I mean, I've had two consultations just in the last few days of 19 year olds, that they had graduated high school and they started college. And they're both like, this is not for me. Not something I want to be doing. But I have no idea what I want to do. And they're kind of looking at entrepreneurship, but they have no idea where to start. And so their parents found me online and reached out to me that way. And they're like, can you help them? I'm like, Absolutely, let's do this. So it has been huge for especially getting in front of people because with what especially my niche, there's not a lot of people that do this, and which is a blessing and a curse, right? It's a blessing because there's not tons of competition, but it's a curse, because people are like, wait, what? That's a thing. Yeah, I'm like, what else? Yeah, what is this thing you're talking about? So it's been really nice. And I go places now networking. They're like, Oh, my gosh, I see all over social media. And I see you over here all the time. And so it has been very, very exciting for being able to take my business and get it into the spotlight of hearing am like I'm out here I can help. And I think the more I'm doing it, and especially when I get back to doing live videos, I know it's going to just take it even farther, especially with the subscription. I love this. I love this. So is there anything else that you want to leave my audience with before we go and also tell them how else they can connect with you besides the weightless website? Yes, I think the biggest thing is just knowing there are resources out there because I know it can be overwhelming and stressful navigating this process because sometimes as a parent we don't even know where like I don't even know how to help my teenager or my young adult and know that there are resources out there to help them obviously yes me but just looking for them you'll find them. There's no reason students should go to college and get tons and tons of debt because there are so many other ways to do it and helping them just navigate that process. And the biggest thing honestly start sooner. Don't wait till spring of senior year to start doing things definitely start sooner. It's not impossible when you get to that point, but it makes a lot more challenging. And you miss a lot of amazing opportunities. So, and I know it's hard because life's go on a zillion directions. Your kid doesn't want to do it. They're like, I don't want to talk about this yet. I don't want to get there. And then it's spring and senior that like, so yeah, I need scholarships, like, Oh, okay. Yeah, well, deadlines will yesterday. So let's yeah, let's get this rolling. That'd probably be the biggest piece of advice. And just also knowing if you have a young adult, too, it's not just teenagers that can use this, I have clients who are way up technically until their 50s. So even older adults, but that can also help in this. So if you have somebody in your 20s, that you're like, hey, my kids still living on my couch, and they don't know what to do with their life, send them my way I can help. As far as connecting with me, I'm on Facebook, on LinkedIn. Tracy bacon asked her for both of those. I also have the business page as well on Facebook. So raising the next gen, which highly recommend you jump in there and follow our group that is in there as well, because we do post some really good tips and things in there for parents especially. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for coming on and chatting with my audience about this. I know this resource can help so many parents and teens. And just like take that stress away. And that's what we want like any business like right we want to make the life of the person we're trying to attract easier. And this make parents lives easier teens lives easier, right? And my also just I want to say this like letting your kid figure out what they want to do before you spend a ton of money in college that they are literally going to waste is probably the biggest like advice I would ask anybody like figure let let somebody else figure it out for you. Because there they may tell you what you want to hear and not the truth, right? And so why waste all that money if that's truly not what they want to do and let that open dialogue happen with Tracy and let her figure it out. And then she can come to you with the news of what they want. And I think so many times we just assume that college is the only way and you're never going to amount anything if you don't go to college, speaking hear from somebody who somebody who doesn't have a college degree who taught a university class last week Hello, you do not have to have a degree to be successful. So yes, absolutely. Make sure you reach out to her she could save you 1000s and 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of dollars and really help your team figure out what they really want to do with their life. So also in a way even if they want to go to college making sure they're going in for the right major or the major that they think that they want to do you know and versus having to switch colleges in the middle of that and pay even more money. So thank you so much Tracy. Drop weightless in the comments if you want more information and then we will update the description too with the link so you can get access to that waitlist and make sure you reach out to her cuz she's such a huge resource. Yes, thank you so much Crissy. And thanks, everybody. I look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed this episode, feel free to share it on your favorite platform and tag me I love re sharing these and giving you a shout out as well. My goal is to always support you and help you see a transformation. Not only your business, but in your life. We will never outgrow our business. Remember that so we get to work on ourselves and see that transformation come through on both personal and business side. I would love to work with you and 2023 I have loads of opportunities that will fit the pricing and the budget that you have. Let's chat. I'm truly interested in creating an unforgettable experience for you to grow, transform and see how big your business can grow in 2023